Now that we have New Years’ celebrations out of the way, we can get back to the serious stuff of the NFL playoffs.
Resolutions of weight loss, greater community input, expanded social life and more reading are all well and good, but the first step to achieving happiness in 2013 is becoming well acquainted with the NFL.
You ask what the biggest questions are going into the playoffs are?
That’s funny, considering I happened to have cooked something up before just on that topic. Enjoy.
Will running the table help the Green Bay Packers?
The journey of the Packers over the last two seasons has been well documented.
They went into last season favourites and held that position, going 15-1, until falling to the NFL king-killers the New York Giants.
Expectations were high this season with revenge on their mind, a healthy roster and a heavy injection of defensive initiative over the offseason but in typical NFL fashion, what appears on paper is not always reality.
What the Packer fans instead received was an erratic offense, injury riddled defence and uncharacteristic losses to the Colts, Giants and Vikings…oh and some game against the Seahawks which didn’t happen apparently.
So they are 11-5 and will have to raise the Lombardi without the aide of the bye week, sound familiar?
The Packers work best when they work with momentum, this was proven last season after they faltered in the divisional round of the playoffs following their bye week.
So much of the Green Bay offense is dependent on Aaron Rodgers maintaining rhythm with his wide receivers and this is enhanced even further given the absolute, overwhelming awfulness of their running game.
Knowing this, the bye weeks hurts the Green Bay Packers more than any other team and one of the big questions is whether the Pack can capture the magic they possessed in the playoffs two seasons ago.
Did the four neck surgeries also repair Peyton Manning’s playoff ineptitude?
The Peyton Manning story is remarkable, no one is denying this.
However, now that the greatest regular season quarterback in the history of the NFL has done away with first 17 weeks of the season, he must exercise his post-season demons.
The calls for ‘MVP’ may well be appropriate (but misguided in my opinion), however claiming that award does not a Superbowl victor make and the four-time MVP winner knows this.
So this begs the question, will Manning’s form carry over in to the playoffs or will we see the post-season Peyton who has become accustomed to making those uncharacteristic throws?
Broncos fans will be hoping number 18 will be able to change his colours much like his uniform, however if he cannot, there’s a good chance that the Superbowl victory parade will not be running through Denver this year.
Can the Patriots hoist the Lombardi without their “kryptonite” in play?
In both 2007 and 2011 the Patriots steamrolled every opponent on route to both Pheonix and Indianapolis respectively.
However Belichik’s grand schemes came unglued at the hands of those pesky New York Giants and their meddling defensive line.
This year, however, we have seen the same old Patriots (with an added running game), the same old savvy coaching and the ability to improve the defense on the fly. This provides the Pats with the perfect mixture to make yet another deep playoff run.
The downside? No excuses now.
Without the Giants in the playoffs, New England haven’t their greatest foe and thus have even more pressure to overcome their recent follies.
Whether they will be able to is another question all together.
Can the Colts’ emotional intensity be matched?
It’s no secret the that this season the Indianapolis Colts have been playing with a little extra, what I think is scientifically referred to as, “oomph”.
It could be due the fact that they were more or less a team of newcomers keen to stake their claim on the league.
It could be due to the seemingly worldwide resignation to their future spot as a top-5 draft pick.
Or it could be due to the fact that they have rallied around their coach Chuck Pagano whom has spent the majority of this season on the sidelines combating and subsequently recovering from his battle with Leukemia.
No matter what the cause, the effect has been noted.
This lifeless Colts team from a year ago is now playing with added intensity and spirit not seen since the heyday of Peyton Manning.
The big question now is whether that level of emotional intensity (especially now that Pagano is back on the sidelines) will match the playoff intensity brought by their opponents.
The Colts are in deeper waters now, what little expectations people had of them have been extinguished and now their mettle will be greatly tested.
On the plus side, rookie quarterback Andrew Luck more than proved his worth in pressure situations, leading the Colts with seven game winning touchdown drives.
Which Christian Ponder will the Vikings get?
All the talk about Adrian Peterson’s season (an MVP season if you ask me, which you didn’t) is well and good but the simple matter of fact for the Vikings is that they will only go as far as second year quarterback Christian Ponder takes them.
The Vikings took many-a-fancied team by surprise this year including the 49ers, Packers, Bears and Texans.
The common trend within these victories? Christian Ponder throwing 6 touchdowns to only 1 interception.
Ponder doesn’t need to be glamorous, in the immortal words of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson he merely needs to “know his role, and shut his mouth”.
Simply meaning, give the ball to Adrian, move the chains and don’t make the bonehead mistakes he has been prone to making on occasion.
With a monster running game and a violent defense, the Vikings have the ability to control the clock and play anyone on their terms.
This however is not possible if the Vikings are two scores down due to interceptions returned for touchdowns.
Side note: Adrian Peterson for MVP
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